Morning Lesson November 07, 2023
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation, which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Part 2:
Baal HaSulam. "Study of the Ten Sefirot" (TES). Vol. 1. Part 1. Inner Observation. Chapter 4. #16
https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/rhRuFdIP
Reading Item #16 (00:26 - 00:48 - Rav reads heading) (00:55 - 02:26) “After the restriction and the screen that were made…”
1. S. (02:32) How is reflective light expressed in the work?
R. It is the desire from the created being towards the Creator to do the Creator a favor.
2. S. (02:55) What is the use that the reflected light does with the will to receive?
R. The reflected light corrects the will to receive and makes it worthy of receiving in order to bestow.
3. S. (03:16) You said that the reflected light is the desire of the created beings to do good to the Creator, why is it called a reflected light, what does it reflect?
R. The direct light comes from the Creator to the created being, the reflected light is when the created being wants to give it back to the Creator.
S. In other words, the Creator works first so that we would give it back to Him later?
R. What is the end of the sentence, what do you mean “give it back later on”, obviously the Creator’s first?
S. First He has to give us lights so that a desire to give back left back to Him should awakening us?
R. Yes.
4. S. (04:14) Why, after the restriction, was Malchut disqualified from being a vessel of reception and not before?
R. How can it be before, on what conditions could it be flawed for receiving the light?
S. Since there was a reason for the restriction, that there is a difference between the restriction and the light, why didn’t this disqualify it?
R. I don't understand you, there is a difference between light and vessel, correct, but that is not a reason for the restriction; the reason for the restriction is that the vessel wants to receive in order to receive for itself. But there is no prohibition just like that for no reason, that the light is even in creation.
5. S. (05:23) Are descents, can we also attribute them to the impure ABYA?
R. Our descents do not belong to the ABYA of impurity because we do not fall from a spiritual height.
6. S. (05:49) He writes that, “ABYA of impurity use the will to receive that was restricted”, is there such a thing as using the will to receive that was restricted, how does that happen?
R. After the will to receive is restricted, it can be corrected in order to bestow; it was restricted because there was a will to receive in order to receive. If it is restricted, you can invite another light and correct it so that it will not be in order to receive anymore but in order to bestow and use it.
S. Is this not called ABYA of holiness, Kedusha?
R. Yes?
S. So what does it mean that ABYA of Tuma’a, impurity, is using the will to receive that was restricted? Is there even a vessel where you can use the will to receive with the vessel of reception after restriction?
R. But you do not use all the vessels, part yes, part no.
S. So what is ABYA of Tuma’a, impurity, does it even exist in reality, do these vessels exist, are they used or what?
R. Yes, of course, in the Tree of Life of the ARI, it's not in The Study of the Ten Sefirot but I learned the Tree of Life with Rabash and there there's an actual, there’s a lot of material on the ABYA of impurity, and it's very interesting how he writes about it there.
Continues reading # 17 (07:31 - 12:21) “Man feeds on the yeast of the klipot...”
7. S. (12:32) The process is not necessarily one where it begins as complete wicked and you hope that it will be inverted for the better because there is no other choice but to begin as a complete wicked, no?
R. Gradually we advance towards recognition of evil when we see that we’re …. only in the final will to receive.
S. At every point where you begin as wicked, will it be turned into good eventually?
R. It's not a must for it to happen, but at least we need to know our original nature, which is entirely evil, meaning the opposite of the Creator.
8. S. (13:40) Without trying to achieve equivalence form with the Creator, we are dead?
R. Yes.
9. S. (14:14) Concerning the vessels: In the previous part, you said that we have to define our vessels, what does that mean?
R. What level or degree we relate to with our desires to determine who we are, whether in reception or bestowal, and to which degree of receive or which degree of bestowal we belong to.
S. You said it to the corporeal desires, how can I define the mind level of desires?
R. Whoever still has corporeal desires needs to try to measure themselves to that.
S. So it is one degree and then we move on to the next degree?
R. Correct.
10. S. (15:15) How do we come to the state that is described here where even with one finger we do not receive pleasure for ourselves?
R. That is when his entire heart, meaning all of his desires, are busy bestowing.
S. Is it from a state of adhesion with the Creator?
R. Yes, yes.
11. S. (16:00) The righteous, do they fall into the ABYA of Tuma’a or is it the” God has created one opposite the other”.
R. They also ascend and descend.
S. He says that “a righteous never receives anything for himself”, so what is the use of the ABYA of Tuma’a, impurity, in the system if he doesn’t really never falls and taste from the in order to receive?
R. “There is no righteous in the land who has done good without sinning first”.
12. S. (16:42) He writes that “a person nurses his faith by the yeast of the klipot”, can we choose not to feed on the yeast of the shelves?
R. No.
13. S. (17:01) Is the Tuma’a, impurity, the reflected light without the screen?
R. Yes.
14. S. (17:14) Should a person understand what type of klipa, shell, he is in, in order to correct it into the side of the Kedusha, holiness, and this way to gradually come to a conscious understanding of the Sefirot and the connections between them?
R. I did not understand the question.
S. Should a person understand what shells he’s in, what klipa he’s in?
R. You don't need to continue twenty more sentences, it has to be shorter. Yes, a person needs to all know that.
15. S. (18:05) A person who is, with all of his desires are in order to bestow, does he see himself as a righteous or a wicked?
R. With his desires to bestow?
S. Yes?
R. Then he has no foundations to see himself, not as righteous, not as wicked, he sees himself as a complete, whole person, as a complete righteous, you might say. But what’s the question?
S. It is just that it’s interesting, what is the perception of such a person, does he see himself as distant or close to the Creator, does he see himself as corrected or he sees the correction?
R. I don't know, I've not been in such a state yet.
16. S. (19:07) When the Creator shows the material, does it have to become a klipa necessarily?
R. Again?
S. When the Creator created matter from the will to receive, did it have to become a klipa?
R. Yes because that, would not know what good or bad is, what receiving or bestowing is, we will not have any discernments, there will not be a difference between the Creator and created beings.
17. S. (20:16) I didn’t understand the question and answer to a student from Haifa, if I understand correctly, he asked, “is impurity reflected light without a screen?”, and I heard you tell him “yes”! What does it mean ‘reflected light without a screen’, what kind of reality is this?
R. I don’t know, I also don’t remember.
S. What is impurity, Tuma’a?
R. Impurity is to be receiving them to receive.
18. S. (21:05) The disparity of form, when it changes, what happens to the previous form that was?
R. To who?
S. When you change your form to the Creator, what happens with the previous form that I changed?
R. You changed it, so it’s gone already!
S. So it not like a desire where the desire remains, and you rise above it?
R. Same thing here.
19. S. (21:36) I’d like to connect what we read to the prayer: Are we righteous when we raise a prayer from within the Kli or when can we be righteous?
R. When we resemble the Creator.
20. S. (22:26) What is the labor we have to do in order to separate from the will to receive?
R. What is the exertion, ooh, we have to yearn to connect with the friends and through them, connect with the Creator in everything possible.
21. S. (23:02) How to use the klipot to bestow and not that the klipot will bestow on us?
R. Simply just start using them more and more, bend them over until you start using them in order to bestow.
22. S. (23:51) Is the screen a restriction on the will to receive?
R. Yes.
23. S. (24:14) When a person walks on the path in order of the quality of bestowal, it is like digging a hole where there are more and more rocks in there, where besides he doesn’t know how to advance, does not know how to advance, he doesn't know what to do with the stone he found, how to relate to it, how to continue?
R. Pray, pray.
24. S. (25:14) A question about the reflected light: If I aim my will to receive with the intention to bestow, meaning to the benefit of others, then I receive vessels of reception for the purpose of bestowal, and that becomes a measure of the reflected light?
R. Yes.
25. S. (25:55) Does repentance cause an ascent from one degree to another?
R. Yes.
26. S. (26:13) With your permission, we are studying The Study of the Ten Sefirot, excellent material, it explains beautifully and systemically every single state, as opposed to Rabash where you feel the heart, you feel the feeling. When should we or when should I connect the intellect to the feeling, to the instructions we get from studying The Study of the Ten Sefirot? Is this my future, our future development in the ten?
R. You’re all ready now, all ready now you can try and do it!
27. S. (27:04) How can a virtuous person be able to want to finish this work without it being for her own sake?
R. He constantly thinks how to help others and then from this concern for himself, he is left with only one point, where he springs from, where he stems from. And all of his other actions are only for the sake of others, and he is just like this one dot.